Apartment Bedrooms, Part 2

Light colors on your walls and ceilings will help to reflect light and make the space seem bigger. Also a basic color like white or a light gray gives you a great base for adding color in your furniture, artwork, accessories and bedding.

ARTWORK & HOME ACCESSORIES

Adding beautiful artwork on the walls really make a space feel very personalized and can make and break your decorating style. It will say a lot about you by adding some key pieces on the walls. Adding accessories like lamps, small vases or pots of flowers or ivy, small objects or sculptures and frames on bedside tables or bookshelves will certainly show your flair and your decorative style.

CURTAINS, PILLOWS & BEDDING

Bring colors from your artwork and accessories alive with pillows, bedding and curtains. Privacy in a bedroom is really important so make sure you bring color and style on the inside but privacy from the outside world on your windows. Take color up to a valance that is on a simple rod with a textured roller shade under it for your privacy and then bring the same fabric and colors down to the bed with small round pillows and big square fully fluffed pillows and a bed skirt. On the bed adding textures in complementary colors or even the same as the walls will help ground the room and give it some extra style and class.

SIDE TABLES & STORAGE

Storage in apartments is vital! Bedside tables with drawers are perfect for storing extra clothing, things essential for dressing and even reading materials like books and magazines. Clothing can be placed in chest of drawers and closets but also consider underbed storage bins for those things not worn often. If you have space for small bookcases they can add tons of storage in soft cubes or baskets for your “unmentionables” or undergarments.

FURNITURE A wrought-iron bedstead and wicker bedside tables and chair have a straightforward, contemporary feel and clean outlines which are perfect for the look.

Furnishings Furniture: Apartment-style decorating revolves around maximizing space and minimizing cost, so try to choose furniture that offers plenty of storage space and serves more than one function. A well-lit, clutter-free dressing table, for example, doubles as a desk to make a quiet work place away from the main living area; a low, painted chest makes a perfect bedside table with room inside for bed linen; a platform bed with pull-out drawers or even a second, spare bed underneath is a real bonus; and in an older home, a built-in window seat creates a snug corner for relaxation and provides valuable storage space. If your bedroom is really small, consider installing a sofa bed to free up maximum floor space during the day. Futons have a suitably modern feel and are generally reasonably priced.

In terms of style, keep to functional furniture. Pale, stripped, or stained wood, in white or primary colors, laminate furniture, and polished or painted metal are just right. Avoid cluttering up the bedroom with too much furniture. In addition to the bed and built-in storage (see below), all you need are bedside tables and, if there’s room, a comfortable chair and perhaps a basic dressing table or desk. Wicker furniture is inexpensive and adds a friendly touch, especially if other furniture in the room is stark. Glass-topped tables take up little visual space and add emphasis to any ornaments or objects displayed on them – a clock or vase of flowers, for example, seems to float in the air.

The bed: Like the other furniture, the bed should be simple and functional in style. Choose a basic wooden bedstead, natural, painted, or stained, or a wrought-iron one for contemporary chic; or opt for a simple daybed and dress it up with boldly patterned and colored bed linen. Set against the walls with a bolster at each end and some scatter cushions along the back, such a bed provides sofa-style seating during the day.

Storage: With space at a premium, built-in floor-to-ceiling cupboards and wardrobes make sense, along one wall, filling an alcove or fitted in an arch over and down the sides of the bed. Mirrored doors on storage units double the sense of space and light and, unlike a freestanding mirror, take up no additional floor space. In a very small bedroom, choose built-in furniture to tone and blend in with the walls.

Check out office supply stores for functional filing cabinets and box storage systems, which come in a bright array of colors as well as traditional gray and black. Industrial suppliers are a potential source of clever storage units, such as galvanized metal high-security boxes.

On a limited budget, you can fit a clothes rail across an alcove and screen it with bright fabric curtains or with white or boldly painted medium-density fiberboard panels. For added storage options, build one or more shelves at various levels behind the screen.